Keitaro Miyahara drove in five on three hits to lead Japan past Southwest 12-2 on Sunday. Keitaro drove in runs on a triple in the second, a home run in the fourth, and a double in the fifth.
Southwest took an early lead in the first inning. Southwest scored one run when Chandler Spencer homered with zero outs in the first inning.
Japan took the lead for good with three runs in the second inning. In the second Keitaro Miyahara tripled off of Chip Buchanan, driving in two runs and Ryusei Fujiwara singled off of Chip, driving in one run.
Japan scored five runs in the fifth inning. Japan’s big inning was driven by a single by Rei Ichisawa, a double by Keitaro, a groundout , and a single by Natsuki Yajima.
Tsubasa Tomii earned the win for Japan. He threw five innings, surrendering two runs, three hits, striking out nine, and walking one. Chip took the loss for Southwest. He tossed three and a third innings, surrendering five runs, seven hits, striking out three, and walking one.
Home runs for Japan came when Keitaro homered in the fourth inning, Natsuki homered in the fourth inning, and Daisuke Hashimoto homered in the fourth inning. Home runs for Southwest came when Hunter Ditsworth homered in the first inning and Chandler homered in the first inning.
Japan had 14 hits in the game. Keitaro, Ryusei, Natsuki, Seiya Arai, and Rei each collected multiple hits for Japan. Ryusei and Keitaro. Japan didn’t commit a single error in the field. Seiya had nine chances in the field, the most on the team.